Piston packing ring



April 21, 1936. v c. A. MARIEN 'PISTON PACKING RING Original Filed Jan. 25, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lllllll I I l I I I II April 21, 1936. c. A. MARIEN 2,

PISTON PACKING RING Original Filed Jan. 25,' 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v VIE/V7019. Owens '9. MAR/EN.

#71- Tam/5K Patented Apr. 21, 1936 t t I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PISTON PACKING RING Charles A. Marion, St. Louis, Mo., assignor to Ramsey Accessories Manufacturing Corporation, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application January 25, 1932, Serial No. 588,56

Renewed March 20, 1933 '1 claims. (01. 309-45) My invention has relation to improvements in an enlarged plan view of a section of the ring piston packing rings for internal combustion enand stiffening spring to increase the tension gines, and consists in the novel features of connear the ends of the ring; Fig. is a side elevation struction more fully set forth in the specification of the ring section shown in Fig. 4 Fig. 6 is an 5 and pointed out in the claims. enlarged cross-sectional detail through the pis- 5 The present invention is directed more parton wall showing my improved ring disposed in a ticularly to what is known in the trade as oil piston ring groove during the downstroke of the rings in contradistinction to compression rings, p 7 i a similar section to t Of 6 in that the ring is especially designed to prevent showing how the ring is shifted in the groove the passing of oil beyond the piston into the comduring the p o f e P 8 is 10 pression space of the cylinder. The ring is also ment of amodified construction of ring embodying designed to maintain operative contact with the the principles 0 the invention; 'P W cylinder wall by virtue of its inherent tension and 0f the ring illustrated in Figs- 1 t0 inclusive, does not rely upon an expanding spring placed with'a polygonal expander shown in place of the behind it to insure this operative contact, alflat spri g f the p p of augmenting the 15 though an expanding spring may be used, with tension of the ring; and Fig. 10 is a similar view the packing ring if desired. of the ring shown in Fig. 8 with a polygonal ex- 1 have discovered that the principal reason for pander dispesed Within the ringthe passage of oil over the face of the piston ring Referring to the drawings, P represents 8- D is the setting up'of hydraulic pressure on the botten adapted for Operation in an ng e cylind r 20 tom, or oil scraping edge, of the ring during the C, aid pi n b n pr v w the customary downward power stroke of the piston. When the r r v a, g r in he pi on rin horizontal component of this hydraulic pressure, I and T e u e rings I a co p s o caused by the oil accumulation ahead of the ra rings a form no pa of the p e appl caidly moving ring, exceeds the pressure with which ti n, wh the l w r 2 is h 0 1 rin and 25 the ring is held against the cylinder wall the ring embodies the subject-matter Of this pp a o is momentarily unseated and oil allowed to es- The i 2 is p f rably a snap ring. that a cape past the face of the ring. The escape of the ring having suflicient inherent tension to hold it oil relieves the pressure and the ring again seats i Operative engagement wi the y n r W ll,

itself against the cylinder wall, but the oil that although. i s t s t ns may e oosted 3 has escaped passes up into the combustion chamy inserting an expanding ring ow heber of the cylinder and causes carbonization. h the ring The object of my improved piston ring is to y p v ring 2 comprises WO S m la rin trap the oil that esca es past the-bottom edge of mp s 3 in ux ap s a havin a the ring before it has an opportunity to pass en- Working face 4 adapted to be maintained in P- 35 tirely beyond the ring, and allow the trapped a erative contact with the wall of cylinder C by the cumulations to discharge back into the crankcase i nt tension of t ring. T r is split through the piston wall. I accomplish this obhas a gap 5 t permit s b in d sposed in he ject by providing an oil ring having two compopiston ring groove and is made so that it will 40 nents fixed in paced relation. The space beexpand outwardly and bear against cylinder 40 tween the components serves as an oil reservoir W211 with substantial pressure. This, of 0011156, is for receiving any increments of oil that pass the Well understood in the a The ring comp bottom edge of the ring during the downward Ilents 3, 3 are maintained in fixed pa d re astroke of the piston. The manner in which my tien by a plurality Pillars 6. die. of diaimproved construction carries out t objects mond-shaped cross-section and formed integral- 45 sought, as well as additional advantages inherent ly (in the present instance) with the compoin the invention, will be better apparent from. a hents HOWeVer, the P s 5 eed not be detailed description thereof in connectionwith formed integrally with the ring components but the accompanying drawings, in which; may be in the form of pins 6' which are driven Figure 1 is a side elevation of a conventional [through openings 6", 6" in the ring components piston showing my improved oil ring disposed in 3, 3' asshown "in Fig. 8. the lower ring groove, a part of the ring being- The pillars 6 of the main form of the invenbroken-away; Fig.2 is a horizontal cross-section tion, shown in Figs. 1 to '7 inclusive, have outer taken on the line 2-2 of Fig.- 1; Fig. 3 is a side faces I lying in the same plane with the working 55 elevation of my improved piston ring; Fig. v4 is faces 4, 4 of ring components 3, 3 and have inner faces 3, 3 of ring components 3, 3. Face I of each pillar 6 is provided with a groove, or recess, Ill midway between ring components 3, 3 and parallel thereto so as to establish free communication between the parts of the space H on opposite sides of the pillar 6. A further advantage of recess Ill isthat it reduces the possibility of the ring bearing against the faces I of the pillars instead of the faces 4, 4 of the ring components 3, 3 should the latter become worn through use.

Since the size of the piston ring groove 9 is standardized, the overall dimensions of the piston ring 2 must correspond to the size of the groove in which the piston ring is to operate; Therefore, the cross-sectional area of each ring component 3 must needs be small as considerable of the groove width is accounted for by the presence of the space I I between the ring components. As a' result of the reduced cross-sectional area of the ring components it is not possible to provide sumcient inherent tension to prevent a rapid vibrating action at the ring ends. This rapid vibratory movement has been referred to as ring fluttering and has been overcome to a large extent in the present invention by boosting the tension of the ring on each side of the gap 5 by means of a fiat spring H. The spring l2 extends between the first two pillars 6, 6 on each side of the gap 5 and has its ends bent over to form terminal hooks I3, l3 which engage the opposite corners l4, l4 of the pillars 6, 6 between which the spring I! extends. It is apparent from an .inspection of Fig. 2 that when the ring 2 is seated the terminal pillars l5, l5.

In the operation of the piston the ring 2 will hug the top wall of the groove g on the downward stroke '(as shown in Fig. 6) and oil will be scraped from the wall of cylinder C by the bottom edge e of the ring. Owing to the high speed of travel of the piston the accumulations of oil against this edge e produce a hydraulic pressure that at times becomes great enough to overcome the pressure holding the ring against the cylinder wall and thus unseats the ring 2 allowing the oil to fiow past the face 4 of the lower ring com ponent 3. As rapidly as this oil escapes past the lower component 3 it is received in the space H between the ring components instead of passing on beyond the face 4 of the upper ring component. There is no opportunity for the pressure to build up in the space ll because of the free drainage from this space through ports 0 leading from the bottom of the groove through the piston wall. Of course, some oil will be stored in the space H on the downward stroke of the piston and some will drain out through ports 0. As soon as the piston starts to move upwardly (Fig. '7) the ring 2 shifts to the opposite side of the ring groove 3 and hugs the bottom wall-of said groove and some oil remains in the space H between the ring components. The rapid upward travel. of the piston creates a hydraulic pressure on the edge e which may become great enough to unseat the ring in like manner as on the downward stroke of the piston and allow the oil to escape faces 8 lying in the same plane with the inner past the face 4 of the lower component 3 and again be spread over the cylinder wall. Thus, the single ring 2 performs substantially the functions of a compression ring and an ofl ring since the lower component 3 serves to control the oil and the upper component 3 serves to hold the compression.

Because of the smallarea of the faces 4, 4 of the ring components 3, 3 the unit pressure of the ring against the cylinder wall is considerably greater than in piston rings as heretofore con structed. In fact, the present construction enables the working faces of the ring to be reduced to an absolute minimum and provides for a comparatively large oil receiving chamber for trapping excess oil and thus preventing its escape past the ring into the cylinder combustion space.

Another important feature of my improved ring that contributes greatly to its effective prevention of oil pumping is the flaring of the spaces (or slots) II at their ends due to the oppositely inclined faces of the diamond-shaped pillars. In other words, the longitudinal extent (or length) of the slots, is as great on the inner surface of the ring as on the outer surface thereof. The obstruction by the pillars to free ingress and egress of the oil to and from the spaces ll betweenthe ring components is reduced to a minimum--in fact such obstruction is negligible. Thus, the pillars 6 are large enough to maintain the ring'compon'ents in rigid, fixed relation but so shaped as to permit the flow of oil through the ring almost as freely as if they were not there. Any carbon particles that may lodge in the slot II will immediately be washed through the slot by the freely flowing oil.

The shape of the pillars and, of course, resulting shapeof slots eliminates shelf or ledge formations on which carbon could collect as in slotted rings as now constructed.

The principal objection to the slotted piston rings now in general use is that the slots have converging end walls, or they are provided with ledges or some other device to stiifen the ring so to retain suflicient tension to hug the cylinder wall. These slot obstructing devices offer a lodging place for carbon particles which build up a serious obstruction to the free passage of oil through the slot. Therefore, the ring may perform perfectly when first put into use but as thecarbon accumulates the ring efficiency is cut down, until finally the slots are closed and the ring no longer has any function as an oil ring.

According to the features of construction of my invention such obstructing ledges are not needed to boost the ring tension. Applicant utilizes springs l2 forincreasing the tension of the ring otherwise reduced by the large size of the slots ll. Instead of the plurality of springs I 2 I may use a, single spring or polygonal expander I E with equal results.

I have, therefore, provided a ring that is eifective in stopping oil pumping, and remains effective until worn out. At the same time, the ring has sulficient tension to insure high unit pressure against the cylinder wall throughout its life.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A split piston ring for engines comprising ring components in spaced relation, a plurality of pillars between the components and spaced around the ring circumference for holding said components in fixed relation, and a fiat spring extending between and anchored to the first and second pillar on each side of the split in the ring.

2. A piston ring for engines comprising two similar ring components in spaced relation and each having a comparatively narrow cylinder contacting face, a plurality of pillars arranged between said components and around the circumference thereof to hold said components in definitely fixed relation, and a leaf spring expander detachably secured at opposite ends to two of said pillars.

3. A split piston ring for engines comprising two similar ring components in spaced relation and each having a comparatively narrow cylinder contacting face, a plurality of pillars arranged between said components in definitely fixed relation, and a leaf spring expander detachably secured to adjacent pillars.

4. A split piston ring ring components in spaced relation, of pillars between the components around the ring circumference for holding said components in fixed relation, and flat springs extending between and anchored to adjacent pillars.

5. A piston ring for engines comprising two similar ring components in spaced relation and each having a comparatively narrow cylinder contacting face, and a plurality of pillars arfor engines comprising a plurality and spacedranged between said components and around the circumference thereof to hold said components in definitely fixed relation, the sides of each pillar having portions tapering outwardly and inwardly from a medial line of the pillar so as not to constrict the spaces between the ring components.

6. A' piston ring for engines comprising two similar ring components in spaced relation, and a plurality of pillars arranged between said components and around the circumference thereof to hold said components in definitely fixed relation, the sides of each pillar having portions tapering outwardly and inwardly from a medial line of the pillar so as not to constrict the space between the ring componen r '7. A piston ring comprising a split annulus having a plurality of radial openings extending therethrough, said openings lying in a common plane and being spaced around the annulus circumference which forms the cylinder contacting face of the piston ring, and a series of grooves in said cylinder contacting face connecting the openings, said grooves being narrower than the openings to form a constricted passage between adjacent openings.

' CHARLESA. MARIE-N. 

